The Best of the Swoon Collections
Have you ever had a friend who knows a great deal about a particular genre of music, one who spends time playing you selections of his or her more obscure favourite pieces? The concept behind the Swoon CDs -- and the radio program that inspired them -- is that the tracks were chosen on the basis of being ‘intensely beautiful music’. The aim was also to find lesser known pieces, or new arrangements of more familiar music. Now who wouldn’t want to go for that?

My response to this compilation after a few listens is mixed, to say the least. A few of the pieces are far too comfortable and familiar. A notable example of this is Percy Grainger’s arrangement of that old Irish Theme Pub favourite Danny Boy. There was nothing to make this version seem fresh in any way, other than the removal of the maudlin lyrics. I had a similar response to the version of Ave Maria. Neither of these are little known gems, nor exactly stuff to swoon over.

But cutting through the comfortable and predictable sounds are some truly lovely pieces. The traditional Armenian folk song Chinar es is what this whole compilation purports to be about; a deeply emotive piece of work I would never have heard but for this album. Soprano Jane Edwards’ beautiful rendition of Love Me Sweet from The Battlers by Carl Vine sends similar chills up the spine, as does the final track Taverner’s Song for Athene.

Back to the analogy of a friend playing you their favourite obscure tracks. It’s always going to be a hit and miss affair, based as it is on someone else’s tastes, but when it works, it opens you up to things of beauty you never knew existed. A few more of those on this album would have made it truly memorable.
Stas’ Wiatrowski



The Pick of Destiny
Tenacious D
Raise your horns to the sky, shake out your metal mullet, throw on your fav black tee and get ready to rock, the mighty D are back. This short blast of the D (under 34 minutes) is a companion piece to their upcoming movie of the same name. In the film, yet to be released here, Jack and Kyle do battle with the beast for control of the world, well, the metal world at any rate. This world makes a good target too because if any form of music deserves a send up, it’s the world of metal with its crazy costume crews and psychobabble.

As a stand-alone album, the work unfortunately suffers from a lack of visual presence and inconsistent song writing. There are many worthwhile moments like the opening track Kickapoo, where Jack and Kyle rope in Meat Loaf and Ronnie James Dio to lend a hand, and The Metal but then there are tracks like The Government Totally Sucks that need all the help they can get visual or otherwise.

You do have to give the D credit though because most sound track albums are just collections of tracks pinched from someone else’s vault and not songs written specifically for the film. And while the darts they throw don’t always strike the bullseye, their comic instincts are still mostly intact.

As hit or miss as it is, there are still enough good moments to warrant its existence and final judgement will have to be made after viewing the film because if it delvers on its promise, this disc will become a worthy souvenir.
Rob Hudson



The Evolution Of Irwin Thomas
Irwin Thomas
Upon first listen, The Evolution Of Irwin Thomas has a very commercial-radio friendly overtone to it but now that I have had the chance to listen to it at some length, I have come to appreciate it for what it is, a happy pop/rock record. Thomas isn't really trying to do anything outstandingly new or outrageous, just deliver a strong singer/songwriter album. And it's one that deserves some form of attention. Lucky you, the listener gets to choose what form. The tunes are catchy, with good lyrics and harmonies.

The session players of choice reflect Irwin’s playing and voice with a good mix and overall sound. Putting aside that it sounds a bit studio-ish, I think that anyone who enjoys the likes of Jeff Buckley, Taxiride, or Radiohead will appreciate this album. With interesting unlisted tracks on number 6 and 10 of the album, my overall favourite would have to be track 7, Wasting My Time.

The album's sound is that of an easy listening record with an English pop/rock feel and it's a work that will either grow on you or sit in the far reaches of your CD collection, only being pulled out occasionally. If you can, have a listen to it in the store first because it has the possibility to either delight or disappoint.
Peter Dowse
www.irwinthomas.com



Teenager
The Thrills
The Thrills are one of those personal pleasure bands. You know the type; a great band that so few people know about it defies belief. They release albums that almost always become favorites and everyone you turn them on to loves them. Then they finally release an album that breaks through commercially, they become huge stars and from then on their music is never as interesting as it was before. Well I’m happy (sort of) to say that the new Thrills album, Teenager is not one of those albums. The chance of breaking big with this collection of tracks is almost nil.

Now for a little background, The Thrills are a harmony laden groovy Californian band that just happens to be made up of Irish lads. The Emerald Isle is surrounded by water, as you know, it’s just a little bit colder most of the time so the connection isn’t that hard to fathom. They release their first album, So Much For The City in 03 and it’s a big hit back home and in the UK and nowhere else. Then in 04 comes Let’s Bottle Bohemia, again a big hit in Briton and almost nowhere else even with that album almost universally making open minded critic’s top ten lists for that year.

Fast-forward to the year 2007 and we get the new album, Teenager. Long time fans who worried that a breakout album would water down the band’s charms, can sleep well tonight because this collection of bittersweet tunes is not going to make the band overnight stars. While Teenager is a consistent work it fails to scale the heights of previous releases.

When a band is a personal pleasure and all your friends agree, this window of opportunity is usually a rather small one. It’s always one album away from fame and riches and all the artistic liabilities that come with that level of success. With Teenager, The Thrills have neatly avoided that pitfall for the time being.  
Rob Hudson
www.thethrills.com

Best Off. retrospective works 86/02
TISM
The eighties were a strange time in Australian music, a time where experimental and comedic acts flourished. TISM appeared in this period like an exercise in Sociology gone wrong. They mixed humour with electronica and guitars and they have refused to disappear. They are clever, pretentious, witty, selfindulgent, sarcastic, elitist, cynical, obvious, entertaining, and annoying. They write songs with danceable rhythms, singalong choruses, and more vitriol than most can understand or stomach. To avoid public ridicule or adulation, the members in TISM remain anonymous, hiding behind ludicrous aliases and elaborate masks, and by surrounding themselves on stage with erratic dancers.

The CD starts with a song that was a classic in alternative clubs when it was released, Defecate On My Face. Many of TISM's finest moments are here, some of which even made a slight dent in the charts. I'm Interested in Apathy, (He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River, Greg! The Stop Sign! and Whatareya? Sadly, as with most Best Of''s, there are blatant omissions, including Yob, Thunderbirds Are Coming Out, and If You're Not Famous When You're 14, You're Finished. Perhaps they are saving them for Volume 2, because it would be unlike TISM to miss a marketing opportunity.

The CD also comes with a bonus disc of unreleased tracks, which is only a bonus for serious fans and completists. For some it may provide an insight into the collective mind of the band, and to others it will just be unlistenable. The extra disc would have been better value had it contained the missing singles, or at least some of their video clips or performances. I will never forget the night they played on Hey Hey It's Saturday, an event which must have confused the show's regular viewers.

This CD, chronicling their music from 1986 to 2002, contains a detailed history that is loosely based in reality, and when it comes to TISM, the line between reality and fiction is more blurred than usual. TISM are a band that everyone should see play live, because that is the best way to appreciate their music and ideas. It is live that their costumes, choreography, irreverence and lunacy are best displayed. It is live that they best interact with the unwashed masses.

TISM, you may as well laugh with them, because they will be laughing at you, always.
fabulous sebastian
www.tism.com.au



12 Memories
Travis
12 Memories is one of the best sing-along records of the year. Lead vocalist Francis Healy sings in a register accessible to most and as a songwriter, pens tunes that relate to situations of the everyday man (or woman). This accessibility has always been at the heart of this band's charm. It's also caused more than a few critics to dismiss them as being lightweight. The contradiction in this resides in the fact that writing songs with universal appeal is anything but easy and coming up with arrangements as inviting as these takes real time and effort and more that a little studio craft.

The 12 tracks here find the band successfully mixing the accessible with the slightly experimental and the addition of unusual instruments (for them) give the songs more depth. The violins in Quicksand, the dirty blues slide guitar in The Beautiful Occupation, the xylophone in Somewhere Else, the overdrive guitar in Happy To Hang Around or the just plain strange Paperclips point to a band having fun with the formula. There is also a sobering moment when the somewhat hidden last track, Some Sad Song tells its tale about the effects of 9-11.

While a number of bands that mine this vein have given in to fame and high-profile paparazzi lifestyles, these four lads, who formed in Glasgow over a decade ago, still produce earthy music that invites participation and rewards repeated playbacks.
Rob Hudson
www.travisonline.com



Tripod
There are those that say the true avant-garde doesn’t and cannot exist in recorded music. That as music goes through the recording process, it becomes something commercial in nature and the danger and unpredictability is removed. While there is some truth in those words, there are music projects that are so far removed from the mainstream and so challenging that they come close to fitting that lofty description.

Tripod, the band and album hail from New York City and that location makes perfect sense when you spin the 14 tracks. Just like walking down the streets of NYC and hearing a different language and seeing a different lifestyle around every corner, the songs here constantly evolve and change, almost every bar itself is a self-contained composition. Also like the big apple with its constant change of cadence in the spoken word, the tracks here almost defy all standard time signatures. In most hands this level of movement would equate to an unmitigated mess, not so here.

This trio sounds like a mix of so many different bands that it transcends mere comparisons and becomes unique. Imagine 12 string bass, bass pedals, flute, sax, clarinet, teremin, drums and acoustic and electronic percussion just to name a few, used and abused in the service of some very original compositions. It’s beyond metal, with its entrenched tempo and jazz with its predictable unpredictability, this stuff is truly out there.

Clint Bahr, Steve Romano and Keith Gurland are to be congratulated for creating a maelstrom of music this distinctive and demanding. Play Tripod after any music you can think of and it sounds like the illogical conclusion of mad muse and musical might.
Rob Hudson
For album information: www.moonjunerecords.com
For band information: www.tripod-theband.com



The Exploders
Shard guitar trauma
Buoyant basic ballistics
Jolt of joe caustic charm
Vinyl era imagery
Suitable social statement
RK
www.theexploders.com.au



Dark On Fire
Turin Brakes
Bands like Turin Brakes face a dilemma. They arrive on the music scene from a flourishing indie background with a couple of surprisingly effective major label releases (EPs in this case) that successfully blend equal parts folk and pop. That sets them up for their first major album release, The Optimist. This gets them the usual British music press adulation and the obligatory Mercury Music Prize nomination and things are looking good but now what?

The British press as is their norm have moved on and now a group of talented musicians are faced with the realities of band life in this millennium. The needs of the press and fans are not always easy to satisfy and still stay true to the musical vision that underlined the group’s gestation.

This brings us to the new album Dark On Fire. It’s a fine effort with some real high points like the title track, opening number Last Chance and the understated Bye Pod. The vocal nuances and instrumental arrangements fit together seamlessly and show songs based on good writing not studio trickery. As a freestanding work it’s a more than satisfying experience.

Now comes the reality check. In a musical world that tries (not that successfully) for a feeling of constant change, there are no radical departures of sound or intent to hang a publicity campaign on or to create controversy around so the music is left to its own devices. Many a band has hit this wall and disintegrated, the only real survivors of this situation are the ones that consider the craft first and the trappings of fame later or if ever. Turin Brakes see the music itself as all-important, that’s enough for them and me.
Rob Hudson
www.turinbrakes.com